Afterimages
by Janomeister
Summary: A short story contemplating what happened right after Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II will be continued in Trust Power. Feel free to comment or review.


As Kyle Katarn was in the officer's lounge after he gave up his Powers and returned to his old military life. He could not quite shake the shake a dark gloom setting over him. _Why did I ever give up my powers? _He wondered _why didn't I kill her. Why was I so soft. I could have been great. I could have become the greatest Dark Jedi the universe has ever known? _"Hello Kyle great to see you're back, I didn't get a chance to welcome you back earlier." Jan Ors came walking in Kyle snapped back to reality. "Huh? Oh thank you." Ors glared at him. "Is there something the matter?" Kyle frowned "Oh just a bit of post madness angst." He said unconvincingly "But not in a bipolar sort of way." He added hoping to convince somebody. But he knew it might be hard to fool Ors just like it is hard to fool himself. Actually he didn't feel too well. He hasn't been feeling himself lately. _It will clear itself up. _He thought as he stared blankly at his Jawa beer. Jon Ors was clearly still worried when she said. "If you're not feeling wel you could always call in sick you know." He took a swig of his Jawa beer. "I told you Jon I am feeling fine." Jon looked at him strangely "I give up if you are really this stubborn then I'm sorry but I can't help you." She stood up and walked off. Kyle thought for a moment then drank his Jawa beer up in on gulp and chased after her. He followed her out of the lounge. "Jon wait!" He said. Jon turned around and looked at him. She looked as if she wanted to attack him. He tried to return the dagger eyes but to little avail. "Jon you're right I haven't been feeling well. I have been feeling severely gloomy." Jon frowned at him and looked as if she was about to scream. "Well said it yourself there's nothing I can do to help you." Kyle's reaction time certainly implied that there was something wrong with him unfortunately Jon did not notice. "Wait I never said that." He said when the answer finally reached him. "But you were implying that." She said. He smiled for the first time since he got back. "You know what I'm feeling much better now. Here let me go buy you a drink just like old times." They went back into the officer's club. They each took a seat. "Two Jawa beers please." Jon turned to him. "I know youre feeling bad now but don't worry you'll feel better soon." But Kyle wasn't listening. _Yes soon I shall become one with the dark side and then I shall have total galactic dominion!_ He tuned out Jon and took a massive swig of his Jawa beer. _Soon! _The word echoed in his still recovering mind.

At the Jedi temple Mara Jade was walking to the academy. When all of a sudden a blue light erupted in front of her! Her purple lightsaber erupted form it's handle. "Away put your weapon, in peace I come!" Said a voice. Mara Jade heard the voice but she could not see anything. "Where are you?" She asked fingers boring into the hilt of her lightsaber. "Down here!" She looked down and jumped as she saw a little blue apparition with pointed ears standing on the ground. "Why you are so frightened? Yoda my name is. A jedi I once was. But irrelevant that is. To warn you I came." Mara Jade replaced her lightsaber back into her belt. "Warn me about what? Who are you?" She asked. The little green man was clearly examining her. "Still frightened you are? Fear is the path to the dark side! Nonetheless, Yoda my name is." Mara Jade remembered him from her teachings there is so many questions she wanted to ask him. However if danger was so great she decided to let it pass. "What did you come to warn me of Master Yoda?" Yoda looked at her with a sudden strict and slightly less serene look. Yet he still maintained the serenity of the Jedi code. "Mara Jade came back from a mission did you?" She was surprised at him knowing this he is supposed to be one with the force. "Yes I went to rescue Kyle Katarn. Does that mean anything to you?" Yoda spoke so suddenly it caught her off her guard. "Yes, yes, mean everything it does. Not well Katarn is. Afterimages he has." Mara Jade started to doubt whether her job was at all finished. "Afterimages of what?" Yoda's ears perked straight up. "Ah, after images of what he experienced. Tragic afterimages if help him not, destroyed he will be from the inside. Help him you should in peril he is. If not helped, a tragic death for the galaxy it means." When Yoda finally stopped his monologue Mara Jade interrupted. "But master Yoda he barely defeated Jarec. How can he be a threat to the galaxy." Yoda frowned and looked at her with a giant cliff in his forehead. "Much potential in him I sense. Indeed great things he can accomplish. For a self-taught student of the force good he is." Mara Jade expected the last sentence as something a child would say. "But he can't be his minichloron count can't be that high." Yoda's ears moved up and down as he gave her a stern glare. "Size matters not. Whether length of numbers irrelevant it is. He has much potential and even more potential towards the dark side." Mara Jade heard this before but following some events she wondered what to think. "Are all Jedi more powerful on the dark side?" Yoda frowned "No, no, only consume you it will." Yoda started becoming more transparent "No more time have I. Know what to do you do. Farewell." Mara Jade stood there and wondered whether she should take action. She decided that she should. She walked away from there silently wondering: _How could this be happening to him? Didn't I just help him? This is all very strange._ She went to the main hangar and took a fighter and prepared to go off to help Kyle again. If it wasn't too late!

Kyle was sitting in his chambers his thoughts wondering off to his afterimages. _Yes soon the universe will be mine and when that day comes I will be more powerful than any Sith, Jedi or anybody ever was. _Suddenly his door rang. He snapped out of his thought. "Uh who is it?" He asked nervously. "It's Jon I thought you said we were to meet in the recreational facility what is the matter with you?" He remembered he slapped himself in the face and went to the door it slid open. "Sorry about that drifted off let's go now." They walked down the corridor for a while. But then Kyle's mind turned back again. _Must go back, the universe will be mine! _Now completely maddened by the dark side his mind tried to calculate an escape route. He turned to Jon, and then with a massive force push he swiped her out of his way and ran. Jon recovered quickly. "Oh no!" She went to a communicator against the wall and practically screamed into it. "Come in anybody Captain Kyle Katarn has gone mental and is running out of the building pursue and apprehend."

Kyle turned the corridor. Two guards blocked his path. "Captain Katarn come with us." One of the men said. Kyle looked at them and as unconfident as he is he was still too determined to let them walk over him. He used a force push and hurled them both across the room. He ran toward the exit of the corridor and then turned toward the hangar. He galloped onward disarming and throwing guards with the force not even taking notice of them. He finally got to the hangar and punched in the security code to get in. When the door slid open he bumped into Mara Jade. "Kyle Katarn you are not well come with me to the Jedi temple." She said. "Not in your life!" he yelled taking steps back. "Don't force me to make to come quietly." She threatened activating her purple lightsaber. "So be it!" He said spitefully and in the flash of an eye there was a blaze of light and his lightsaber overlapped with hers. It dawned over her, he had a secondary lightsaber. She pushed his back and struck at him. He parried the blow and returned the blow. She blocked and continued striking at his blade with her own repeatedly. Kye was defending but he was just waiting to counter the attack and then he will strike a disarming blow and then he will emerge victorious. He blocked three more blows and then his moment came he countered and almost succeeded in disarming her but she was too quick for him and parried his attack. The battle went on for quite some time then he parried another blow then disarmed her she stood there not knowing what to do and then he force pushed her into the wall. And then ran to the ship. She got up and tried to follow him but when she came around the corner she got knocked over the head and everything went dark. When she came too she looked around nut he was gone and so was a ship. She ran to her starfighter and just then Jon came behind her. "Wait take me along I can help." She said. Mara Jade shook her head. "I don't think so." Jon look mildly irritated "Look I think I can convince him to snap out of this." Mara Jade looked like she was thinking this over. "What makes you think that you could succeed?" Jon scratched her head wondering how to explain the scenario. "Just trust me, I know Kyle better than anybody." Mara Jade strongly considered this. "Do you know him well enough to tell that your plan will work?" Jon grinned and said still smiling: "Oh trust me I know Jon better than he knows himself."

Kyle toggled the controls he was headed towards the old sith ruins where he first united with the dark side thinking that this might give him supreme power. Not far behind him was Mara Jade's ship coming in on him full speed. When he however noticed this happening he simply did nothing and allowed them to follow him he had a plan for them. What he did not count on was that his opponents were also planning an equally effective scheme. On Mara Jade's ship they were even now consulting on Jon's plan. Mara Jade switched on the auto pilot and sat back in her chair. "So what is your plan?" She asked Jon semi irritated. "Well I believe we can sway him to forget this silly ruins encounter if we can manage to catch him." Mara Jade sat as if thinking this over. "That doesn't sound too hard." She said. Jon shook her head. Actually it is much harder than it sounds, you wouldn't believe what traps me and Kyle got through." Mara Jade shrugged and turned back to the controls. Jon thought hard about her plan in a brooding manner. Although she didn't show it Mara Jade was really quite worried. _What if this plan doesn't work I'll be in trouble so deep it's unimaginable._ She turned back to Jon. "What is your precise plan for this operation?" Jon was startled after she heard this question to be honest she wasn't really sure herself. "Well perhaps if we could isolate him then I could talk some sense into him. "Mara Jade really wasn't too sure about this however she did strongly consider this.

Kyle got off his seat and prepared to land his craft. _At last I will finally fulfill my destiny!_ He thought he activated the automatic landing sequence and open the cargo hold and jumped to the ground. He made a soft decent and grinned as he seen how Mara Jade's ship followed his. "Worked like a charm." He said out loud. "While they'll be out searching for me in a staged accident, I will be off someplace else fulfilling my destiny. Oh there will be nothing to stop me by the time they figure out what's going on it will be too late!"

Too be continued in Trust Power


End file.
